Dara Singh

Dara Singh (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, and politician. Widely regarded as one of India's greatest wrestlers, Singh earned international recognition during the 1950s and 1960s for his victories in both Indian and world wrestling circuits. In 1968, Singh became world champion by defeating Lou Thesz.

Transitioning to cinema, Singh appeared in over 100 Hindi and Punjabi films, often portraying strong, heroic and religious characters, and is best remembered for his iconic role as Hanuman in the film Bajrangbali (1976) and in the television series Ramayan (1987–1988). He was the first sportsperson to be nominated as Member of the Rajya Sabha from 2003 to 2009, he was also awarded the Padma Shri in 1996. Singh was inducted into the Legacy wing of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

Singh was born in a Punjabi Jat Sikh family as Deedar Singh Randhawa to Surat Singh Randhawa and Balwant Kaur on 19 November 1928 in the village of Dharmuchak in the Majha area of the Punjab region of India. At the time, it was still under British Raj colonial rule.

He came to Singapore in 1947, where he worked in a drum-manufacturing mill and began his wrestling training under Harnam Singh in the Great World Stadium. As an adult he was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall, weighed 127 kilograms (280 lb) and had a chest measurement of 53 inches (130 cm). Due to his physique, he was encouraged to take up pehlwani, a traditional Indian style of wrestling, in which he trained for several years. After switching to professional wrestling, he competed around the world with opponents such as Bill Verna, Firpo Zbyszko, John Da Silva, Rikidōzan, Danny Lynch and Ski Hi Lee. His flooring of King Kong is still remembered. He is credited to have remained undefeated in a professional wrestling bout.

In 1951, Dara Singh lost a traditional city-duel match in Greco-Roman style against Brahmdev Mishra of Gorakhpur in a stadium located at Dharmatala Maidan Calcutta.

In 1954, Dara competed in the Rustam-e-Hind (Champion of India) tournament where he won the final by defeating Tiger Joginder Singh and received a silver cup from Maharaja Hari Singh. In 1959, he won the Commonwealth Championship by defeating George Gordienko at Calcutta. On 29 May 1968 in Bombay, his victory over Lou Thesz earned him the World championship. According to Thesz, Singh was "an authentic wrestler, was superbly conditioned" and had no problem losing to the latter. His last tournament, where he announced his retirement, was held in Delhi in June 1983.

Singh left his village for Singapore in 1948. He started his career as an actor in 1952 with Sangdil. He was a stunt film actor for many years and played his first lead role in Babubhai Mistry's film King Kong (1962). From around 1963, he partnered often with Mumtaz, with whom he performed in 16 Hindi films. The couple became the highest-paid B-grade actors, with Singh receiving nearly four lakh rupees per film.

He then went on to do television in the late 1980s, where he played the role of Hanuman in the television adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayan. He also had roles in numerous films, such as Veer Bheem Sen and Ramayan, and in other television serials. He starred as Bhima in various Mahabharata movies, besides also playing Balram, he also starred as Shiva in various theological movies.